


Legacy

by Melime



Category: Ant-Man (2015), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family, Fix-It, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-19
Updated: 2015-07-19
Packaged: 2018-04-10 01:46:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4372397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When her late father's formula is reinvented, Hope goes to her mother for help.</p><p>AU in which Henry was the one who died when Hope was a child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Legacy

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [Legado](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4372442) by [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime%20GreenLeaf)



> So I went to see Ant Man yesterday with friends, and we couldn't help but notice that Hope is awesome and the movie should have been about her, with Janet as the mentor (btw, headcanon time: I think that is quite possible that at least during part of Hope's adult life she suspected Henry killed her mother, like in a domestic violence setting). Also, is it just me or superheroines rarely get "someone is going to continue my legacy with this identity" stories (not counting the team-ups with male superhero that needs a replacement female)?

Janet never expected that Wasp suit to be finished. She hadn’t retired right after Henry’s death, if anything, it served to make her flourish as a superhero; however, she never wanted to go back to that old project, too many memories, not all of them good. She hesitated before deciding to finish it, but her last working Wasp suit had been damaged beyond repair years ago, prompting her to finally leave active duty, and all of the old Ant Man’s suits had been destroyed long ago. They had no choice, there wasn’t time to build one from scratch and they couldn’t pull this heist without the powers it provided. And how could she do anything else, when her only daughter was ecstatic just to look at the unfinished prototype?

Henry had been many things, a genius, a hero, and one of her first loves, but not always a good man. Still, she saw no use in speaking ill of the dead, and never bothered to correct Hope on the image she had of the man. At first, because she believed all little girls should be able to look up to their parents as heroes. Later, simply because the opportunity never rouse. Therefore, she couldn’t blame Hope for her excitement to use her parents’ last joint creation.

Hope had much of her mother in her, and although Janet didn’t resent Henry nor regretted the years they spent together, she couldn’t help being glad that she was the one that raised Hope, not Henry. Henry would have crushed her, tried to make her believe that she was too precious and fragile to be a hero, as if her value to him should dictate her destiny. Janet worried, too. How could she not? This was her daughter, her little baby girl. However, she was also a scientist and a fighter; she blended the blood of two veteran superheroes. Janet couldn’t have stopped her from doing whatever she could to save the world if she had tried, so it was her duty as a mother and a mentor to make sure she was as well-equipped as possible.

Working on that suit with Hope had been different from what she expected; the memories came back, but lacked sting; instead, the only thing on her mind was how proud she was. It wasn’t Henry’s project anymore, it was now Janet and Hope’s. And seeing them make it work, seeing her daughter wearing it, inheriting her legacy, it was simply too much.

“Mom? Mom, what’s wrong?” Hope asked, opening her helmet and walking to her mother who had started to cry.

“Look at you, you are natural. I should have suspected by how fast you learnt to control the ants when you were a kid.” She meant it, but it wasn’t the whole truth. Seeing her like that had reminded her about how Henry always wanted a son to be his legacy, so desperate he was that she wouldn’t put it past him to choose a random misfit he identified with and put him under his wing, but he never acknowledged the possibility that Hope would carry their legacy. In a way, perhaps he was right; Hope was much more Janet’s legacy than Henry’s. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to ruin their moment by bringing this up, better let Hope believe that her father would also have easily recognized her talent if he was there.

Hope hugged her. “It’s not surprising, I had the best mentor.”

“I’m sorry that you have to do this, to fix our mistakes. After your father died, I hoped that I could make this formula disappear from the world by pretending that I didn’t know it. I knew how dangerous it would be in the wrong hands, I just never expected anyone to be able to reinvent it.”

“You couldn’t have known, mom. It’s not your fault. Maybe dad should never have created it, but it’s out there now, so all we can do is make sure that it can’t be used to cause any harm.”

Janet had thought that her consultancy in the creation of the Avengers Initiative would be her last contribution to the world of superheroes, and yet here she was, helping her daughter follow the same path that brought her so much happiness, but so much grief.

“I never wanted to make you feel it was your duty to follow our footsteps. I was so afraid of pushing you this, of making you feel this was the only way you could make the world a better place. This was never the life I imagined for you, I wanted to make a better world for you, not have you harming your body and risking your life.”

“This is my choice, mom. I can’t just sit by and do nothing while men like him destroy everything around them for profit. You didn’t push me to anything, you just raised me to know what’s right.

Janet framed her daughter’s face, looking her in the eyes. “I know, and I couldn’t be prouder. My little girl isn’t a little girl anymore and is off to save the world. What else could a mother want? Now let’s take this beauty outside and see what you think of your friends when you are their size and inside their homes.”

Hope laughed. Her mother would never let her forget how as a child her favorite playmates were the ants. She could still remember finding the communicator when her mother was packing her father’s things after his death, she didn’t know what that was, but within minutes she had managed to gather a small army of ants and use them to take the cookie jar from the top shelf. Janet was right: Hope was a natural, better at this than either of her parents had ever been. Hope was the ideal heir for the size altering powers, not only because of her parents, but also because of her own merits. Janet would like to think that perhaps one day Henry would have grew to see their daughter’s talent, but above all, she was glad to live in a world where Hope’s abilities were recognized.

**Author's Note:**

> I should probably say I'm still reading the comics, I've read all of the 60s but just got to the 70s, so I haven't actually gotten to see much of Henry being awful.


End file.
